QURĀNIC PRECEPTS ON FAMILY LAW: A CONTEMPORARY FEMINIST AND MAQĀṢID-BASED EXEGETICAL STUDY

Abstract

This study critically examines Islamic family law as articulated in the Holy Qur’an in response to contemporary feminist and Orientalist discourses that challenge its normative framework. Issues such as marriage, wilāyah (guardianship), qiwāmah (male responsibility), polygyny, mahr (dower), divorce, and ḥalālah are frequently portrayed as instruments of patriarchy or gender inequality when assessed through Western normative paradigms. The research analytically engages with the writings of prominent Muslim feminist scholars and Orientalist thinkers to identify their methodological assumptions, interpretive approaches, and limitations. In response, the study advances a jurisprudential and Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah-based analysis, drawing primarily on al-Taḥrīr wa al-Tanwīr by Ibn ʿĀshūr and Aḥkām al-Qurʾān by Ashraf ʿAlī Thānwī. The findings demonstrate that Islamic family law constitutes a coherent ethical-legal system that integrates rights with responsibilities and legal norms with moral objectives. When understood holistically, it upholds human dignity, protects women’s rights, and ensures social justice, thereby offering principled responses to contemporary critiques.